Daily Archives: March 1, 2012
First off the Prize. I like Bubble Wrap. Anyone who submitted a serious suggestion to a blog written by the founder of the “Fancy Hats Corporation” was at a disadvantage. I like the sound of “Fancy Hats just Bubble-Wrapped our wormhole… we’re hosed.”
Second I am amazed and humbled by the reaction my blog post garnered. Amazed by how quickly it spread and how many views and comments it received between here and EN24. Humbled by the support I have received, and the large number of rational, sensitive people able to perceive the difference between “Decent behavior” and “PC GESTAPO” they also managed to raise several points that I particularly thought should be further discussed.
1st – A large number of people pointed out that “Rape” has a lot of meanings. No… no it doesn’t. Not in modern culture. No one has used “rapine” outside a history book about the vikings for a long time. Rape is taken to mean forcing someone sexually, against their will. While it may not include penetration, it is an abhorrent and scarring act, the (slowly) growing acknowledgement of the damage it does has been a main cause of the term’s other definitions falling into disuse.
Nikki· 1 day agoI hate it when people speak for the entire gender .. But here another perspective:
You start about a gender imbalance, can’t argue there: completely true, although I would like to see some comparisons made with other MMORPG. You name the reason for this imbalance the hostile environment for women. In the entire article you name one example of this hostility, which is shaky at best.
Have you thought about the fact that for one… less women play games and therefore Eve? Have you considered that perhaps less women play eve because playing Eve because it’s a technical game and doesn’t just ‘look pretty’? Your statement of the hostile environment could be true if a lot of women started a trial account, but stopped playing because of the dreadful behavior they encounter.
I am almost ashamed to say: I am a woman, playing eve and no I am not offended by terms like rape-cage. I think I’ll go back to the kitchen and make corpies sammiches…
There are certainly other reasons than misogyny that keep women away from EvE Online. I can’t control the theme of the game. I can’t change that fewer women play EvE than other MMOs. I *CAN* hopefully make people aware of a dangerous cultural trend in-game that they might want to change to increase the appeal of the game to many, many women.
I picked one example because I didn’t want to go through the litany of potentially offensive things, and because I have an axe to grind with rape culture in general. Far too many women I know have been forced to endure rape for me to find it funny in the slightest bit. I know it doesn’t offend all women, just as it doesn’t offend all men, but there’s a difference between “not offensive” and “funny.”
I’ve heard statistics for WoW placing the balance anywhere from 20-40% female. EvE is usually quoted around 5% or less. Even at 10% that means fewer than 40,000 female players of EvE worldwide. Giving up a term like “rape cage” would make the game more attractive to women, giving up the culture that espouses the term rape cage would as well.
Tomato, Turkey and vinegar on wheat please!
Alita· 21 hours ago
Corelin, I see whre you are coming from, but I think you got it wrong. If there is something that might put women (as far as I can speak for them) off EVE, it’s the ridiculously shallow HTFU macho culture. It takes dedication and delving into things to notice, that this is just a vocal minority.
I myself, I decided that I will play this game before I knew about statistics. I have a pretty thick skin when it comes to the stupidity of immature men online. (i.e. i simpy do not take them seriously, as it should be). One thing I do not understand is, why women will tolerate this sort of crap from the people they fly with. If I would be subjected to sexist crap every other day, I’d rip off the corp, shoot whoever is within range and then leave.